EGAD
or, (de)mythologizing the fetish of placewherein our unlikely hero composes a series of
empirical geo-anthrospatial dispatches, aimed at establishing just where
he is, and perhaps even why it matters
Geomagnetic storm in progress, as they say. And handily enough, I was off doing a public observing thing at Lake Maria S.P. this evening, so I got front row seats. The seeing was lousy, so at first we thought it was haze, or lights from the power plant nearby. But the big fuzzy luminous thing resolved itself into curtains and streamers, so we all kicked back to enjoy the show.
The public seemed to appreciate having actual astronomers around to tell them what they were looking at. I mean, to the extent that a cosmologist and an infrared astronomer know squat about aurorae.
I know, I know, this would have been a good time to break out the astrophotography. But I didn't have my camera handy. I'll remember to bring it along next time I'm under dark skies while a solar radiation storm is underway.
Posted by Milligan at September 11, 2005 03:47 AM | TrackBackLucky you! I guess 1. being outside and 2. being out of the city and 3. being in Minnesota helps seeing those pesky aurora.
Bringing a camera to a public observing event is always a good thing. I used it on a member of the public after he kept using his flash. He understood then why it was annoying.
so, did you guys get the projector in time?
Posted by: crystal at September 11, 2005 03:27 PM (Permalink)Dean: by that logic, what I really should have brought along is a set of auto headlights. Due to trees, the only good place to set up was in the middle of the parking lot. So each time a family piled into their car to leave ... well, our night vision was frequently interrupted.
Crystal: s'all good; projector was stashed in the IR lab. Missed you at yesterday's shindig, btw. You would have gotten a laugh out of the DDR antics.
Posted by: Milligan at September 11, 2005 03:41 PM (Permalink)